Explorer Medals & Other Collectables

February 5, 2023 12:00 PM AEDT
Timed Auction

250 Lots

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Smalls Auctions

Location: Sydney, Australia

Phone: +61 (0)2 9357 5492

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Welcome to Smalls Auctions Sale 203 As the debate evolves about the legitimacy of celebrating Australia Day on the 26th January it is worth contemplating a few what ifs. The colonisation of Australia by the British ensured that its written history would be essentially Anglocentric and to the chagrin of many it papered over the oral history of its original inhabitants. However, in the 1700s there were many other international players who were eyeing off this vast ‘new’ continent, and so it is seems improbable that the original inhabitants would have been left alone to solely populate today’s Australia. History may be set in stone, but have you ever wondered what Australia would have looked like if Captain Cook had not sailed into Botany Bay on the 29th of April 1770? Perhaps this vast island continent would have been populated from the north and would now be a thriving Asian nation home to over one hundred million people living in the hot humid monsoonal reaches of its northern environs that we Australians of European heritage tend to avoid. Or even a nation of Islam considering that Matthew Flinders when circumnavigating Australia noted in his journals that the Aborigines of the north were circumcised and speculating that Muslim traders from what is now the Indonesian archipelago had long interacted with the native populations. Or perhaps we would now be speaking French if the ships of the First Fleet had been delayed by the howling gale that arrived a week later and sailed into the same Botany Bay on the 26th of January 1788 instead of the 18th only to find the Tri-colour flag of the French Explorer Compte De La Perouse already flapping on Bare Island in competition with the Union Jack planted on the opposing shore at Kurnell. Of course, history records that La Perouse was greeted cordially by the British on the 26th as they were preparing to relocate the eleven ships of the First Fleet to Port Jackson to establish a beachhead for British colonisation. But imagine if it were the French who arrived first and greeted the surprised British with a “bonjour.” Would the meeting have been quite so friendly if the French had been sent packing by the numerically superior British and, would they have felt sufficiently aggrieved to return later in force on the directions of the Empire building Napoleon Bonaparte, who earlier as a 16-year-old second lieutenant had unsuccessfully applied to accompany La Perouse on this Voyage of Discovery. La Perouse was himself inspired by the voyages of Captain Cook and with the personal backing of King Louis XVI commissioned a commemorative medal with a regal portrait of his king on its obverse that mimicked the Resolution and Adventure medals struck for Cook’s 2nd Voyage which featured a side portrait of George III. The reverse of the medal provided a written inscription detailing the departure of La Boussole and L’Astrolabe, from the Port of Brest on the 1st of August 1785. Only one hundred of the double-sided medals were struck which were split between silver and bronze and a further six hundred uniface medals were made in bronze to be given away on the voyage. Again, this paralleled the medals struck for Cook’s 2nd voyage which were struck in small numbers in gold and silver for presentation with a further two thousand struck in platina (bronze) to be given out as gifts to the peoples Cook expected to encounter on the voyage. In fact, the preparations for the La Perouse expedition had some friendly British input with Sir Joseph Banks intervening with the Royal Society of London to allow two of Cook’s personal compasses to be taken on the voyage while further scientific instruments were secured from the prestigious London firm Ramsden’s the preferred maker of telescopes and maritime instruments for the early explorers. As it turned out the British upped stakes at Botany Bay and sailed north to establish a penal colony at Farm Cove while La Perouse stayed on until the 10th of March before resuming his voyage and sailing north-east to an unknown fate. Meanwhile, back in Europe there had been a sharp decline in Anglo - French relations sparked by the French Revolution that kicked off in 1789 and which led to the execution of King Louis XVI in 1793 despite international condemnation. With the fate of La Perouse still unanswered, rumours began to circulate that the British had a sinister hand in his mysterious disappearance, and such was the ongoing concern that it is even said that just before the deposed King Louis’s head fell into the basket he had enquired if there had been any news of the boats. But it was not until 1828 that the French explorer d’Urville discovered that the ships and crew of the La Perouse Expedition had met a watery grave on the reefs of Vanikoro in the Solomon’s Archipelago, a fate imagined in Jules Verne's famous novel “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.” History is often stranger than any imagined fiction, but can you even begin to contemplate the alternate course that World events would have taken if Napoleon Bonaparte had actually made it onboard the La Perouse expedition? But of course, the fickle hand of fate intervened in his destiny and just fifteen years later he had risen meteorically to be the dictator of France as First Consul of the French First Republic. Like the Roman Emperors who telegraphed their legitimacy by stamping their portraits on the coins of their realms, the soon to be Emperor Napoleon's Caesar-like portrait appeared on a medal struck in 1800 to commemorate the voyage of Captain Nicholas Baudin to the South Pacific. Napoleon had personally authorised the voyage and hand-picked Baudin who was tasked with mapping the West Coast of Australia and the largely uncharted Southern Coast, which is where in 1802 he ran into Matthew Flinders at Encounter Bay who was doing the same for the British. Despite the tetchy relationship between the French and British, Baudin was welcomed at Sydney Cove when he called in to replenish supplies and this gave him and his crew a chance to have a good look around. Recent research has revealed that Francis Peron, the zoologist on Baudin’s voyage, drafted a secret report on a strategy to capture Sydney for the French signalling that the ambitious Napoleon had greater long-term plans than just conquering Europe. However, if he had seriously contemplated invading far-flung Australia it was soon pushed to the backburner as he focused his attention on taking on all-comers in Europe. Of course, Napoleon’s ambitions were thwarted in Europe in the end and so the what ifs came to naught and history meandered on to today’s reality. History is indeed set in stone even if the history unleashed by intrepid explorers like Cook and La Perouse is viewed these days from opposing perspectives. It is up to the individual to choose to celebrate their national day or not depending on how they read that history. In our Sale we have on offer a number of important Explorer Medals that celebrate the lives of courageous men who set forth to discover the 'New World'. Just like the revered space explorers of the 1960s that followed these men embraced their fate knowing that there was no back up crew to rescue them if something went catastrophically wrong. As the catalysts of lunar exploration, will the heroics of Armstrong and Aldrin be similarly demonised when the scramble is on to colonise the moon. We will have to wait and see. Smalls Auctions
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VAT and taxes: The Buyer's Premium is inclusive of the Australian G(oods) & S(ervices T(ax) incurred by our service.

Shipping Terms: AUSTRALIA :

Purchases within Australia will be charged a MINIMUM SHIPPING FEE of $10.00 and will be sent by Registered Post.

Additional insurance is optional at the buyer's expense.

Larger lots may incur an additional charge.

OVERSEAS :

Overseas purchases will be charged a MINIMUM SHIPPING FEE of $35.00 and will be sent by standard International Post.

Additional insurance is optional at the buyer's expense

Larger lots may incur an additional charge.

If we are unsure of the bona fides of a successful bidder we may request identification such as a Passport Photo or Drivers's Licence that matches the Credit Card details registered with Invaluable before we despatch an item.

Both Australian and International packages are traceable in transit and may require a signature on delivery.

Buyers Premium: All purchases are subject to an all inclusive 20.0 % Buyer's Premium on the hammer price.

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